Schools, office buildings, homes, department stores, hospitals, and other types of facilities consume energy in varying amounts using a variety of different types of systems and components. For example, energy consumption systems and components may be used for environmental control, such as heating and cooling, for lighting, for security system applications, for computer usage applications, and for a variety of other energy consumption applications corresponding to the particular type of facility.
Because the types of facilities vary to a generally large degree, the energy usage associated with each type of facility also varies to a generally large degree. For example, energy consumption systems and components associated with homes are different than the energy consumption systems and components associated with an office building or hospital, and generally use less energy per unit of conditioned area than the systems and components of the office building or hospital.
Accordingly, because energy usage varies among different types of facilities, different energy consumption systems and components are designed to accommodate the various energy usage requirements of a particular facility. Additionally, in order to evaluate the efficiency of a particular energy consumption system or component, information associated with the facility and the energy consumption systems and/or components must be determined, as well as the amount of energy used by the particular energy consumption systems and/or components. This information is also generally necessary to determine which energy consumption systems and/or components require repair, modification, or replacement. Obtaining the required information, however, generally requires access to the facility and/or the energy consumption systems and components. Accordingly, obtaining the required information is generally expensive and time consuming.
Additionally, controlling the energy consumption systems and components of a facility also generally requires expensive and time-consuming site visits to the facility. For example, changes in energy consumption efficiency may require changing the operating parameters of an energy consumption component or system, thereby requiring physical inspection, repair or modification to the component or system.